


The Naga Killer

by luckybarton



Category: The Tensorate Series - J. Y. Yang
Genre: Chocolate Box Exchange 2019, Fluff, Gen, Growing Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 00:18:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17518607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckybarton/pseuds/luckybarton
Summary: Mokoya and Akeha as children.





	The Naga Killer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [engmaresh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/engmaresh/gifts).



Despite the swiftly-greying clouds and the shade of the forest canopy, the afternoon heat seemed impenetrable. Akeha and Mokoya had completed their training in the morning because of it; not by their own choice, but because the Head Abbot did not find slackcraft drills in sweltering weather to be a particularly enticing idea. They’d woken while it was still dark and finished shortly before the sun hit the highest point in the sky.

The twins, relieved of their duties for the present, had escaped the monastery and crashed through the undergrowth of the surrounding forest to reach a relative clearing. The ground was softly padded with fallen leaves and scattered with mossed-over nurse logs—old stumps and branches that had rotten and become food for smaller plants. Akeha kept an eye out for snakes, having seen them here before. Mokoya clambered atop a particularly tall stump and proclaimed themself regent of the forest.

“Let’s pretend,” Mokoya announced, “that  _ you _ are a naga.” 

“I’ll eat you,” their twin replied, sounding more dubious about the matter than a game of pretend really seemed to warrant. They made a face that seemed sufficiently scary for a naga. “Raargh.”

“I’ve got a spear,” Mokoya announced, leaping to the ground and finding a fallen branch. It had been on the ground for some time: all its leaves and half of its bark were gone, leaving bare patches where the grain of the wood had been exposed.

Akeha squinted at it. “That’s not a good spear. I’ll eat it too.” In their mind-eye, Akeha saw the Slack pull around it. “Moko!”

They saw Mokoya look at the stick, pleased. “I’m gonna call this spear...the Naga Killer!” they shouted, then struck the end against the stump. But where Akeha had expected the stick to break or splinter, it had plunged straight into the heart of the nurse log. It came to a halt, and Mokoya let go. They looked surprised at the result. “Oh, no.”

“Let’s go,” Akeha said. The twins sprinted back out of the forest, underbrush trampled under their feet. If the monks ever found the stick-spear or the log it had impaled, neither of them found out.

**Author's Note:**

> I really love the Tensorate series and I hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
